IHOP Shooting: Gunman Kills 4 With AK-47 Before Committing Suicide
The breakfast-time massacre in a Carson City, Nev. IHOP has left five dead, including the shooter, and at least seven wounded. Eduardo Sencion walked into IHOP on Tuesday carrying an AK-47 rifle and opened fire at a table of five uniformed National Guard troops, killing three of them.
Two of the service members, a man and a woman, were reported dead earlier Tuesday. Another National Guard member was rushed to a hospital where she underwent surgery and later died, said Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong. A civilian woman was also killed before the 32-year-old gunman shot himself in the head and later died at a hospital. The names of the victims were not immediately released.
Authorities are unsure of Sencion’s motive for shooting patrons of IHOP and cannot confirm the gunman targeted the military members.
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“To say that he was targeting before he came into the restaurant those military persons, we have not been able to establish,” Sheriff Furlong said. “Clearly, the fact that five of the 11 were military draws a concern by us.”
“But of course, it’s clearly a heavy, heavy concern from here,” he said.
FBI special agent Mike West says there is no indication the shooting is connected to terrorism.
Witnesses said Sencion pulled up into the parking lot just before 9 a.m. in a blue minivan with a yellow “Support Our Troops” sticker on the back. He got out and immediately shot a woman near a motorcycle, a witness said, reported The Associated Press. Sencion then ran into the IHOP, walked straight to the back area and opened fire, said Sheriff Furlong.
Witnesses describe the chaos that ensued.
“All I heard was about a heavy eight seconds of automatic gunfire,” said Nick Teply, who was at the McDonald’s drive-thru next door. “I just froze trying to identify which direction it was coming from.”
Ralph Swagler who owns Locals BBQ & Grill said he grabbed his gun but it was too late to shoot Sencion, who had already charged into the restaurant.
“I wish I had shot at him when he was going in the IHOP,” said Swagler. “But when he came at me, when somebody is pointing an automatic weapon at you – you can’t believe the firepower, the kind of rounds coming out of that weapon.”
Sencion exited the restaurant and sprayed bullets into nearby businesses, shattering the windows of another restaurant, an H&R Block and a casino across the street, said Sheriff Furlong.
After shooting up the parking lot, Sencion crouched down between two vehicles and shot himself. Authorities recovered an empty 30-round gun magazine, two other gun magazines, a pistol and assault rifle in the minivan, authorities said.
Family members said Sencion had mental issues but no criminal history. He was born in Mexico and had a valid U.S. passport. Sencion was not in the military and did not have any affiliations with anyone inside the IHOP. He worked in his family’s business in South Lake Tahoe and in January 2009 filed for bankruptcy.
